THE AUTO SCANNER: Blink and you'll miss the wipers

Monday

Mar 5, 2018 at 6:00 PM

Your car care questions answered by repair expert Larry Rubenstein.

By Larry Rubensteinscanauto@aol.com

Q: My good old girl is a 2004 Mercedes C240 4Matic with almost 150,000 miles on her. Recently my windshield wipers seemed to be intermittently not working. I discovered that they did not work only under specific circumstances -- that is, only when I put on my right-turn signal. The wipers would stop completely until the blinker turned off. It does not happen if I use the left turn signal!

I could get the wipers to swipe once if I turned them off and on while the right blinker was on, but then they would stop again. Ever heard of anything like this? Is there a control that I have inadvertently activated? Or didn't and should have? Love your column. Thanks. -- Kathy from Newburyport

A: Thanks Kathy! How nice of you to say. A little research into your problem shows the column switch is most likely the problem in your car. The column switch has the turn signals, wipers, washers and high-beam circuit going through it. The wires are very thin, and the solder joints are very small on the printed circuit board. The fact that you got 14 years from the switch is pretty good. It's not a difficult replacement, but it should be done by a qualified technician due to the airbag proximity.

Q: My niece owns a 2014 Ford Fiesta. When she bought it, she also bought the extended warranty. At her last scheduled maintenance, they told her they could not rotate the tires because the lug nuts were rotted. Also they said her tires had dry rot because she does not drive a lot of miles -- she drives about 250 miles a week. Is this a safety issue? The dealer didn’t think it was. Was there a recall on the lug nuts? Thanks. -- Bill from Danvers

A: If your letter is accurate, run. Run as fast as you can from the dealership that tells you dry rotted tires are not an issue.

Two-hundred-fifty miles a week equals 13,000 miles a year. That is above average. There are no recalls for the lug nuts on that car. New lug nuts are relatively inexpensive and should be replaced. You may have to pay a little bit more labor if the nuts are rusted beyond the size of a normal socket. The dry rotted tires are suspect to blow out on a rough surface road. So let’s figure, 250 miles a week equals 13,000 miles a year, and the car is four years old. That would put the tires at 52,000 miles. Time to get them off is now.

Hopefully you have been notified by Ford concerning the recall on the door latches. All four latches have to be replaced due to a locking pawl failure on the Fiesta from years 2011 to 2014. That same recall is for the 2013 and 2014 Ford Fusion. You could also notify the National Highway and Safety Administration office concerning your rusted wheel nuts, as that could become a safety issue.

Car Care Tip: If you have a front-wheel-drive car, the best tires should be on the front of the vehicle to give you the best steering and braking control.

Submit car questions to scanauto@aol.com. For more tips and seasonal articles, visit Rte. 1 Auto Service's Facebook page at facebook.com/Rte-1-Auto-Service, or the shop's website at rte1autoservice.com. You can hear Larry and his son Scott on WBZ's NightSide.

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